Page 56 of Their Wicked Ways

“Welcome to the dark side.” Noah leaned over, his fist out for a bump. “Feels good, doesn’t it?”

Like me, Noah had been raised in a hyper-religious family. We were different denominations, but a lot of what we’d gone through was eerily similar.

Noah had bucked the ‘keep your body pure’ thing long before me. He’d started rebelling as a teenager with piercings and was in the process of having tattoo sleeves done.

I loved the look of tattoos, but flu shots made me woozy, so a tattoo probably wasn’t the best idea.

A quick poke was preferable to hours of tiny ones.

Hopefully.

I bumped his fist. “Feels like freedom.”

“Are you looking to get that done today?” Ezra asked, his phone in his hand.

“Do they do walk-ins?” I glanced at Zane.

He shook his head.

“I know the owner.” Ez wiggled his phone. “I can see if he can squeeze you in before you have to go to work.”

“Really?”

“Yup.”

“You know Ben?” River asked.

Ez nodded. “Since high school. He’s done all my ink.”

“Talk about a small world. He’s done all of ours too.” River grinned. “Crazy.”

Ez flicked his gaze to me. “Want me to give him a call?”

“Yeah, thanks.” A little flush of heat crept up my chest at his soft smile.

I couldn’t explain exactly what was different between us, but things had changed over the past couple of weeks.

Before that, we’d fallen into an easy friendship. We joked and laughed and talked shit to each other, the same as we did with the other guys.

Then Quinn had split the crew up, and I’d spent the last two weeks working with Ez and Wes on one part of the build while the rest of the guys worked on another.

Now that it was just the three of us, things were different. More intimate.

At least that’s how it felt.

Now our days were filled with inside jokes, long conversations, and little moments that blurred the line between friends and more.

Their smiles were more familiar, their looks longer, and they were always finding ways to touch me. Just simple touches like a hand on my back or sitting close enough our arms brushed.

And Ezra’s bedroom eyes were going to be the death of me.

That man could smolder, and I was quickly learning that being caught in that stare, like he was remembering every detail of our encounters together, was hazardous.

I’d choked on water, swallowed food the wrong way, tripped on nothing, and dropped more than one random thing that had slipped out of my grasp.

Luckily I had the ability to keep focused on the job when I was actually working, so I didn’t endanger anyone else with my distraction.

“Wouldn’t texting be faster?” Gray asked. “Who calls people?”